Natural forming of vegetation cover on black coal mining dumps in the environs of Kopeysk (Chelyabinsk Oblast)

The article considers the current forming of vegetation and biotopes as a result of natural overgrowth of territories disturbed during black coal mining in the environs of Kopeysk town (Chelyabinsk Oblast). The 88 species of vascular plants were detected on the waste banks and spaces between them, the 7 species of vascular plants are woody species. It has been established that in the process of natural overgrowth of dumps, forest and meadow plant communities are actively formed from pioneer ruderal and halophytic communities. By methods of multidimensional statistics, 15 phytocoenochores have been determined and the discriminate of which is d identified by the tree species, which are forming the forest canopy. The identified plant communities are characterized by specific regimes of the fundamental abiotic factors of biotopes and make up a series of biotopic and coenotic substitution, forming a sylvant (forest) and pratant (meadow) successional series. It has been shown that in the process of natural overgrowth, the formation of forest (primarily birch) and meadow coenoses proceeds in parallel, and the invasive species Acer negundo L. plays an active role in sylvatization. It has been established that the leading hand in the formation of the coenotic structure of communities belongs to soil mineralization, acidity, aeration and variability of soil moisture. The obtained data on biotopes and successional series can be used in the development of the biological stage of landfill revegetation after coal mining impacts with the formation of woody or grass plant communities.